This article appeared in the Santa Cruz County Sentinel on Monday
August 3, 1998. It discusses a roadkill ordinance being discussed
in Pacific Grove. While the ordinance is a good step, notice that
a driver has no penalty for hitting an animal if they report the
accident...
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SENTINEL (8/3/98)
Failing to Report Car Animal Crashes Could Become a Crime.
Pacific Grove--The hit and run killing of a fawn has prompted this coastal community to consider enacting a law that would penalize motorists for failing to report such accidents.
Under the proposed good Samaritan ordinance, a driver who hits a pet or wild animal must report the accident to police or animal officials. Motorists would not be required to render direct aid to the animal.
The city council will consider the issue at its Wednesday night meeting.
Real estate agent Kathy Besag witnessed the death of the baby dear on June 12th as she was taking people to see a home. Her clients were following in their own car, she said, when a doe began slowly crossing the road. Both cars stopped to allow the animal to pass.
"We were used to seeing the second one, and sure enough, this little guy kind of galloped out after her," Besag said.
A third driver, apparently impatient with the delay, gunned her motor and swerved around both cars. She hit the fawn head-on, careened into another lane from the impact, then drove away," Besag said.
"We were just in shock," she said. "My husband covered the fawn and carried it off to the side of the road. I was crying."
Angered that the driver never stopped, Besag gave police the car's license plate number. Investigators told her they may pursue reckless driving charges.
Jane Sullivan, president of the board of the Monterey County SPCA, said the deer herd in the neighborhood aren't always mindful of traffic.
"I have witnessed a lot of near misses," she said.
She and Besag brought the idea of a stop-and-report ordinance to the neighborhood traffic committee, which forwarded it to the mayor.
"We wanted to do what we could," Besag said. "Just to hit the fawn and then hit the gas pedal -- the callousness upped the ante for most of us."
The proposed ordinance, written by city attorney George Thacher, would require a driver whose car collides with and injures or kills "any mammal or domesticated animal" to notify the Pacific Grove police or the SPCA as soon as possible.
Failing to report a collision would become a misdemeanor, punishable by payment equal to prosecution costs and the cost to treat, care for and house the victim animal.
Whether the ordinance is meant to include squirrels and other small mammals remained unclear.
The state vehicle code requires drivers to stop and report accidents that damage property, a category that includes certain pets.
"Dogs are considered property; cats are not -- they are like squirrels," explained Art Carbonel of the California Highway Patrol in Monterey. "A horse would be considered property, and anything larger than a dog would be considered property."
Reporting could include notifying the animals owner, or leaving a note including the driver's name and address," Carbonel said. "There has to be an effort."
Monterey Counties animal control law already requires drivers to stop and report any accidents involving collisions with wildlife of any size. But the county can't enforce the code in incorporated cities such as Pacific Grove.